Two more active moons around Saturn

BNSC Press Release:
Erupting volcanoes could explain new discoveries made on two of Saturn’s moons.

The Cassini mission to the ringed planet has detected streams of particles coming from Tethys and Dione. These particles become part of Saturn’s plasma – an electrically charged gas trapped inside the planet’s magnetic field.

Among Saturn’s inner moons, only Enceladus was known to be active until this result. Its huge geysers spray gases hundreds of kilometres above the moon’s surface.

Dr Andrew Coates of the Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London works on the mission. He said: “This new result seems to be a strong indication that there is activity on Tethys and Dione as well.”

For more information visit: http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEMW43FVL2F_index_0.html